


Okay Then

by verushka70



Category: Longmire (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Pre-Threesome, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-26
Updated: 2017-03-26
Packaged: 2018-10-11 03:31:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,463
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10454001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verushka70/pseuds/verushka70
Summary: Both home from college for Christmas break, Walt calls Henry and says they should get dinner.Henry's heartbeat accelerates and his face warms. He showers and puts on his best shirt and boots.But it isn't just Walt that greets him. It's Walt and a girl he introduces as Martha.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Ever so grateful for the beta by the wonderful [Ride_Forever (ride_4ever)](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Ride_Forever). All remaining mistakes are my own.
> 
> Dedicated by [verushka70](http://archiveofourown.org/users/verushka70/) and [Ride_Forever](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Ride_Forever) to the memory of [Zen](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Zen/).  
>   
>   
> 

When he comes home for Christmas from college and Walt calls him and says they should get dinner, Henry's heartbeat accelerates and he feels his face warm. He showers and puts on his best shirt and boots.

But it isn't just Walt that greets him. It's Walt and a girl he introduces as Martha. Girl might be the wrong word; she's mature in a way the girls they have known aren't yet. But “woman” doesn't seem quite right, given her age – about Walt's and Henry's – and it's hard for Henry to think of he and Walt as men, anyway, even if they are old enough to vote and join the military.

Probably only Henry knows Walter Longmire well enough to recognize the sadness and embarrassment at the edges of Walt's otherwise happy expression.

Probably only Walt knows Henry well enough to see the bright disappointment in Henry's otherwise welcoming expression.

Martha shivers and Henry observes the goosebumps on her arms before Walt soothes a hand down her upper arm. But she smiles warmly at both of them. Henry suddenly realizes Martha senses a depth of emotion between he and Walt, beyond friendship. Dinner begins awkwardly with too much silence.

But as Martha smooths the way with initially innocuous conversation and occasional sharply observant glances at both Henry and Walt – who aren't looking at each other yet – Henry relaxes and realizes she is neither conservative nor clueless. She is beautiful, too – big eyes and a frequently deployed yet bashful smile, which doesn't hurt. But it's more her intelligence and lively expression, plus her sly way of letting Henry know that while Walt is clearly smitten, she's entirely aware this is a test she must pass, and the outcome rests completely on Henry's opinion.

Yet it doesn't stop her from having opinions and stating them, either. So for all his initially forlorn, slightly resentful shock, Henry finds himself admiring the fact that Martha won't hide who she really is, won't play a role or curb herself just to pass the test Walt has consciously or unconsciously set for her. Many women would reel themselves in to reel a man in. Hell, many women would pretend to be someone they aren't at all, just to land a man like Walt. That Martha won't speaks volumes about her character – and her self-respect.

Walt fidgets quietly and nervously, barely saying a few words here and there, Martha initially carrying the conversation for all three of them. After the initial awkwardness, Henry intentionally charms Martha with carefully censored stories of he and Walt back in high school, back in childhood. Martha breezes through ribbing Walt and Henry about their youthful escapades far too glibly, though, and Henry swiftly understands Walt's anxiety, though he doubts anyone but he (and perhaps Martha) would observe it. She isn't trying to, but she has clearly picked up the scent of something. . . and she appears both curious and bold enough to pursue it if she wants, although just now she isn't.

But Henry doesn't get a judgmental vibe from her. If she's guilty of downplaying anything, it's the bit of an edge she has. Henry gets the feeling she's not as guileless as she seems on the surface. But then it might take a woman like that to rope Walt. Which makes her more like the bad girls Henry has been known to take a shine to.

He finds himself slowly altering his perception of her as surprise competition to something more like worthy adversary. If she weren't Walt's, he might make a play for her himself, he thinks, though Martha deserves more than the temporary attention he has for women – temporary because his heart has been taken since he met Walt.

Martha's new to town and in asking about Durant she finally gets Walt to relax. He's never been much of a talker, of course, but he eventually starts to dart careful, poker-faced glances at Henry. When the food arrives, Henry can tell Walt has relaxed because he actually eats. Henry playfully offers to show her around town, and Martha chuckles.

“I was wondering when someone would,” she says, taking a sip of her beer. “He only wants to stay in,” she adds, almost purring.

Henry smiles and looks away, maintaining his composure. But for a split second he burns with a spike of resentment – and a strange frisson of arousal. Walt flushes a deep red and stutters a moment. Henry smoothly cuts in to offer a trip onto the Res, the most exotic thing Durant has to offer.

For a second he hates himself for pimping his people and the Rez and himself. But Walt looks grateful and relieved at the way Henry has rescued him, and Martha looks delighted. Still, Henry does not miss the way Martha has staked her claim, intentionally or not, and finds his nascent enthusiasm for her cooling a bit.

That is until they leave the restaurant and Walt suggests a walk around downtown Durant together. Martha – between them – takes both Henry's arm *and* Walt's arm like it's the most natural thing in the world. It is a statement, however, to every white person they come across as they walk three abreast down the shoveled sidewalk to the town square. People glance at the three of them and then glance away, especially the older whites, who sometimes look disgruntled or outright hostile at this clear display of too-friendly relations between whites and Indians.

Henry isn't sure what statement Martha is trying to make, but he has no doubt that she's making one. The sparkle of her wit indicates she would not do this without considering the consequences. If it's a public statement, he admires her. If it's private, he's a little afraid.

Their breath fogs in front of them in bright bursts of laughter from Martha. Walter chuckles in a low, happy tone, and Henry's slightly tipsy, enough to harmlessly tease both of them.

Martha's a little shorter than Henry, which allows him to glance over her head at Walt. The third time he does so, Walt doesn't have his head ducked halfway to Martha's height. He finally looks at Henry, _really_ looks at him.

His expression is helplessly smitten, clearly grateful, and just as clearly guilty.

Since no promises were ever made, Henry can not hold anything against him. Since he loves Walt more than anyone else in the world except for his grandmother, Henry hopes his face shows that he is happy for Walt. He _is_ happy for Walt – he wants Walt to be happy and would never jeopardize anything Walt had going with a woman, especially not a woman like this one.

The rest – well, it is what it is. Henry hopes the bitterness at the edge of his thoughts is not visible in his expression. Not for the first time, he wonders why he didn't write to Walt while he was away, why he could not put pen to paper. Walt wouldn't have written first, Henry knows, but he would have replied. Now wondering why he didn't has a wistful recrimination for Henry that it didn't before. He wonders if it would have changed anything, if he had.

* * *

He takes them both to the Rez the next day, and if it isn't exactly as easy as the double dates he and Walt used to go on, it's only because now they're both quietly engaged in trying not to give themselves away – Henry for Walt's sake, Walt for his own.

Martha seems unperturbed, despite the desolation of parts of the Rez Henry shows her – the non-arable land, barely fit for grazing, not that there are any cattle here to graze; the clear poverty; the harsher landscape.

“It's beautiful and rugged,” she tells Henry, “like you.”

It is simple and lovely and true, not cheap come-on or flirtation. Henry's chest warms at the compliment, uncertain why the praise should matter, though it does; uncertain if he is proud of himself or of his Rez or of his people. Probably all three. Walt smiles a small smile, nodding wordlessly in agreement. Martha leans back against his chest.

As they look out over a ridge, she grabs Henry's hand, too. Henry glances at Walt and sees his gaze fixed on Martha's hand in Henry's. Then Walt’s gaze lifts to meet Henry's.  Like when they were kids, they silently communicate.

 _What_ , Henry's expression asks, _is she doing?_

 _Hell if I know_ , Walt's helpless expression replies. Just before he drops Henry's gaze, he gives the tiniest shrug.

“Oh, stop, you two,” Martha murmurs. “I didn't mean anything by it.” She squeezes Henry's hand and leans back harder against Walt's chest.

“Okay, then,” Henry and Walt reply quietly in unison, making Martha roll her eyes and snort out a chuckle.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> [Zen](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Zen/) introduced [Ride_Forever](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Ride_Forever) to Longmire, and then [Ride_Forever](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Ride_Forever) introduced me... so in a very real sense, this fic would not exist without [Zen](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Zen/).


End file.
